"Pa-pa-pa!—Wuwuwuwu...!"
Following the cry of a small child, the sound of several sharp and crisp smacks rang out.
"Damn brat! Didn't I tell you not to use those! What would you have done if we all got buried!!"
"Pa-pa-pa!—Wuwuwuwu...!"
"Little master this, and little master that! Look at you! What kind of Little master are you anyway!"
"Pa-pa-pa!—Wuwuwuwu...!"
"You're always like this! Can't you for once think about the people around you!"
While standing in terror, Rose and Lira stood to the side, trembling and watching as Petra was yanked over the knee of the wrathful Wind, then repeatedly spanked into submission.
They saw the short silver-haired sister whip down her hand with the ferocity of an enraged tigress.
They slowly shared a look, not quite sure who was the real demon.
"Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa! PA!"
Petra flailed, and after who knows how long—
After one last particularly ventful exchange, Petra was released, collapsing onto the floor.
Petra: (╥﹏╥)
She rubbed her butt, cursed, then scurried away, quickly hiding behind the nearby Mell, who hadn't spoken up from start to finish. Wind glared at her, then Petra glared back, flipping her the finger as she continued to use Mell as a meat shield, causing Mell to roll her eyes helplessly.
After swiftly turning around, Mell crouched down, picked up Petra, then carried her in her arms like one would a child—erm, a real child…
Petra flailed, but after finding her balance, she soon sat there like a king upon his throne.
She crossed her arms playfully, looking down on the world—! Her eyes ignited with a majestic light!
Mm, she crossed her arms at least…
Mell sighed, followed by Rose and Lira.
"Okay, okay, let's all be friends. Look, how should we deal with this?" Mell's voice was calm and composed, pulling back the constantly plotting Petra and the heavily panting Wind.
Both girls turned to once again look where Mell was pointing.
This was a large ore vein indigenous to the secret realm. it was an unrecorded ore that none of them had ever seen before.
Petra sized it up, once again marveling at the 'uniqueness' of this ore and its 'timely arrival'.
They had originally planned to begin expanding the territory of the Verdelith Castle by first purchasing a large number of special materials to help the new territory better adapt, grow, and integrate. Erm, they already had! But looking at this ore, even just after an initial inspection, they all instantly knew, even Rose and Lira, these two brainless beasts, that they had found a much better material!
Petra had never thought that secret realms could produce unique materials that couldn't be formed in the outside world. No, it wasn't that she didn't think about it, but her focus was on the different types of unique lifeforms that appeared in secret realms, not their unique products.
In short, it had just temporarily slipped her mind...
Thinking about it now, the nature of a secret realm was almost like an enclosed small planet, so it made sense that their environments, even if initially like that of Pillomal, could be wildly different, and follow a completely new trajectory that didn't need to follow 'certain rules and restrictions'.
For example, this secret realm was an unformed secret realm from a very long time ago, but because of a large battle that disturbed it at the end of its growth period, combined with its close proximity to the main space relative to the void, a certain level of indirect influence allowed the Hellion Family, or at least the historical events from back then, to interfere and affect it. This meant that this strange green ore was likely a product of the initial secret realm's trajectory, not the current secret realm that had been changed after the Hellion Family appeared.
Petra's eyes rolled to the side. "Do you guys think that this was artificially created by the High Elves?" Petra asked this because the large ore vein seemed to be a 'very special' wood-type material...
Not only did it look a little like petrified wood, but it was also a bit too perfect! if she was not wrong, it would perfectly fit the plan. If Petra wanted to follow up on the idea that Mell had proposed at the rooftop restaurant a few days ago, this ore, just by seeding it in the ground, would multiply the speed of the primordial forest's growth exponentially. It would turn what could have been thousands of years, perhaps tens of thousands of years, into hundreds—no, maybe even dozens! She would have to test it!
It was truly too good to be true, like a cool pillow provided when one needed it the most!
Petra looked around. The two cats didn't really understand, but Wind seemed to feel something from Petra's words, and Mell looked down at the top of Petra's head.
Wind's head quickly turned to the ore vein, then back, and soon she took a step forward.
"I don't think this is a product of the High Elves..."
Mell agreed. "It makes no sense." She pursed her lips, then continued, "If I remember correctly, what Levy had said earlier was that a secret realm could take ten to hundreds of thousands of years to form. Although I can't really remember, when I was young, I think I once read that the Elven Empire only lasted for fifty thousand years? From historical records, the elves shouldn't have been the original creators of this secret realm, and if they had influenced its creation, it should show more signs." The freckle-faced maid reached up and scratched Petra's scalp. "From this, we can conclude that this secret realm was likely undiscovered by the High Elves, right?"
While almost purring, Petra added with narrowed eyes, "Then I don't know why the Hellion Family could influence the secret realm only a few years after appearing on the continent?"
Mell shook her head. "It should have something to do with the other party that attacked during that massacre one thousand years ago, perhaps some kind of space abil— "
"You mean the Green Abyss?" Petra looked up while asking.
"Huh?" Mell made a confused little sound.
Petra explained, "Wasn't the cause of that massacre the people from the Green Abyss in the Green Wind Forest? They should have been behind it, no…?"
Wind's brows furrowed. "Where did you hear that?"
Petra shook her head.
While swinging her little legs, she explained, "I didn't hear it from anyone, but isn't it obvious? Who else was on the cross-continent at that time? Also, isn't that how the story goes? With a name like the Green Abyss, doesn't that just scream 'endgame guy?' Since we're about to leave and haven't encountered them, and connecting it with the recent repeat drops of northern region lore, who else is there? Don't tell me it was the strange old granny in the plant shop we visited in Sevensen?"
Wind furrowed her brows, but Mell looked thoughtful. Wind couldn't hear it, but Mell could, Petra was still mumbling under her breath.
'The Kiwis? No, that silver-haired elf who screamed that cringy thing? Mm, the Green Hand Sect too... There are quite a lot of loose ends that haven't been touched from back then...' Petra continued to mumble name after name of forgotten characters or unimportant tidbits of passing lore. Mell just shook her head helplessly. She couldn't help but feel as if Petra was being a bit too paranoid.
She had no idea that Petra's intuition had slowly become sharper, but even Petra didn't really realize this quite yet, so it was forgivable, at least for now!
Clap!
"Anyways, let's think about how to take this out!" Petra looked back to the ore vein.
This was a massive, dark green patch that covered the majority of the wall. It was impossible to tell how far back it went, but judging from its face, it should be a square kilometer of material at least! The ore was cracked and covered in streaks of green, with a vibrant mist faintly spilling off its surface. A plethora of plants, some green and others grey, grew from its crevices, splitting it into almost sectioned pieces that looked like they could be peeled off. It had the traits of petrified tree bark with an almost ring-like texture, seemingly indicating that it actively grew, not unlike a tree. It seemed to possess some ability to spread and consume the surrounding minerals in the earth.
It was exactly this innate ability to 'grow' that pleased Petra!
If this stuff was taken away and broken up into many small pieces, then it could easily be planted around the outer boundary of the Verdelith Castle like seeds, eventually eating away and replacing the entirety of the stone foundation and reinforcing the Castle Crawler's 'shell'.
That is to say, it can become the new 'foundation' for the Verdelith Castle.
As for the properties of this ore, that still needed to be verified, but just the vitality it gave off was terrifying, almost like a natural battery for the natural energy of heaven and earth.
Using it, the Verdelith Castle could take that step from a 'mortal island' to an 'Immortal Island'.
It would take a lot of time, but the upper limit would explosively grow! This would not only Benefit Petra personally, but also all her personal, as well as the Castle Crawler.
She would just feed the outer rim new stone, then allow this strange material to replace it over time. Once it was all replaced, then she would find a way to charge it.
Petra didn't really care about the possibility that it would grow out of control, nor did she care about the potential risks involved in its almost parasitic properties, she only wanted to use this treasure-like material to trigger a qualitative upgrade in her home.
As for the question of any unforeseen problems popping up in the future?
Petra actually didn't care!
The speed at which this thing grew was likely very slow, so if she broke it up into small, seed-like pieces, sprinkling it around would allow her to control it easily enough.
If it did start to spread in ways that she didn't like, then she could just uproot a huge section…
Probably…?
Probably!
Petra shook her head helplessly.
With a turn of her mind, Petra had the fat frog jump from the back of her hood onto her shoulder. Then, with a light tap on the head, the frog began to rumble. Its head raised, and its body began to roil. Soon, an explosion of energy erupted, and around four dozen black balls were ejected from its stomach.
These black balls began to contract, then expand, and soon they 'unfolded' into tall, ant-like creatures that all stood up in unison.
Within the center of these large, three-meter-tall beasts were also seven small girls. Four were clothed, and three were not. The seven small girls groggily got up, like children who had just woken up from a nap. Some of them looked around in confusion, but the four that were already 'prepared' began to blink, and then their eyes seemed to light up, clearly much more aware than the other three.
After a few words, everyone moved.
As Mell helped the slightly slower three girls get dressed, Petra turned to the more active four, and began giving them commands. After receiving the orders, these four began to instruct the ants that had unfolded to begin setting up a mining operation. Petra also reached into her bag, then handed over a small, handwritten booklet that explained how to set up a mining operation.
It should also be said that this was a booklet focused on efficiency, not safety…
After that, she turned her head, looking towards the three little ones. She narrowed her eyes, because unlike the four that had already begun to skip away happily, these three streaking shorties seemed to be protesting; one even raised a little wooden sign.
—Ants have rights! Workers Equality!'
Where the hell did they get that??
Petra saw one of them point towards her, then begin making a series of strange clicking noises with their human tongues. It was very cute. Wind, in turn, began explaining something, but they all protested in unison by stomping their small feet.
With a helpless look, Wind turned to Mell, and Mell looked troubled.
Petra took a step closer, only to hear that these three little ones wanted to wear the same outfit that Petra was wearing. She looked down at her little miner's outfit, which had been stained with coffee to add some extra effect, and then she understood that troubled look from earlier.
Indeed, they only had one of these…
She pursed her lips. Were all children so troublesome?
-
Not long after, Petra left the unfolding construction zone, taking Wind deeper into the cave.
The two girls disappeared into the darkness…
* * *